I’m not a fan of country music. The only country musician I ever liked was Shania Twain, and she was really big back in the 90s and 00s. Despite not liking country, when my friend told me she had a spare ticket for the Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean concert I decided to take her up on the offer.  My main reason to go was to check out Levi’s Stadium. It’s a completely brand new state of the art stadium so I wanted to check it out it while it was still shiny and brand new.  Also, its always great to hang out with my friend Rebecca, so that was another reason to take her up on her offer. And so thus, on Saturday May 2, 2015, I preceded to attend the worst concert of all time.

Of course, people who know me are going to first think that the reason I disliked the show so much is that I’m not a country music fan. Or that I’m a wannabe hipster and just need to irrationally hate something, like how I tried to hate Taylor Swift but can’t since her music is just too damn catchy. Or that the parking at Levi’s is horrendous, and/or there shouldn’t even be a stadium in Santa Clara, especially in the middle of nowhere, et cetera, et cetera. No, these are not the reasons why I hated this show so much. I appreciate when an artist puts on a great show and I believe I’m open to all types of music. I had never really thought much about bluegrass music until I attended the Blue Grass Festival in San Francisco (again with Rebecca) and I thoroughly enjoyed the music there. If an artist is giving their all out on stage, there will surely be something that I’ll like. I love live music, but from what I could tell from the Chesney show, the main acts lip synched their songs. That wasn’t even the worst part – I mean, I’ve attended a Lady Gaga concert and I’m pretty sure she was lip synching but at least she had tons of costume changes, a ton of energy and played the piano partially. I didn’t dislike the Kenny Chesney show because he didn’t’ change his outfit. I don’t need to be distracted by costume changes to enjoy a concert. Chesney sure does run around the stage a lot. I respect that. He’s getting his cardio workout on. That certainly didn’t make me hate the show. No, the biggest problem about this concert was that I could not understand the lyrics. This is not because I’ve attended so many concerts up front that I’ve gone partially deaf or senile (or at least I hope not, that’s something I’ll have to get checked out at the next doctor visit), no its because the sound was horrendous. I could not, nor anyone in my section, understand the lyrics because the sound quality was so disastrously poor. I’ve never heard such poor sound. And this is coming from a Punjabi girl whose attended multiple Indian wedding receptions where the DJ plays music so loud that you think your heart is palpitating. In fact, your heart IS probably palpitating, but at least you can make out the lyrics, eat some tandoori with a shot of rum and whiskey to recover, and go back to getting your groove on.

I’m not even sure how to describe the sound quality. It was just loud, bounced off the walls, created a lot of echos. When I’m up front at a show I usually wear ear plugs. Since I knew we were seated so far away, I didn’t even think about bringing them. Big mistake.  Maybe I’m just inexperienced on how a NFL stadium concert should sound like, but I incorrectly assumed that the noise in the upper section could not possibly be that loud. It was so bad that I felt like all the blood was rushing to my ear. I’ve attended concerts upfront where giant speakers are in front of me – ex. The Treasure Island Music Festival. You bet I wore ear plugs for that. Despite being in front of such powerful speakers, I could still make out the music. For the inaugural concert at Levi’s,  the sheer noise , and please note, it sounded like noise not music, seemed like it could be used as a torture device. It didn’t help that I had just attended probably the best concert in terms of sound at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. And I say that despite the bias that one of my favorite bands, Alt-J was playing there. No, the sound quality was amazing. It was so good that I would love to attend more shows at the Greek just to experience great live music. Here are some snippets of video I made showing how great the sound really is at that venue.

I don’t want to leave an impression that the day was a complete fail. It wasn’t! I got to hang out with my dear friend. They had random fireworks go off during the Jason Aldean show. I learned just how narrow the aisles are – safety first people! The girl in front of me fall down a row, and I’ve never seen that happen before. I figured out where to park my car for any future Levi shows to beat the traffic. I also learned how important it is to follow the security rules at the stadium, which are as follows:

• In compliance with the NFL’s Bag Policy, Levi’s® Stadium prohibits all bags, backpacks and other carriers from being brought into the stadium with the following exceptions:
• NFL approved clear plastic bags (12” x 6” x 12”)
• One gallon clear plastic zip lock type bags
• Small Clutch Bag (the size of an adult hand) (4.5” x 6.5”)

Rebecca had brought a clear plastic bag and she was almost turned away. Not sure if the bag was slightly too big, or if the security guards at Levi’s still need some training on this rule. I would recommend that if you do go to Levi’s, make sure you download their handy app, where you can order food/drinks to your seat. Also, the lines at the bathrooms are horrendous – the Levi’s app will show you what the bathroom situation is like, so you can judge when you should take a break to the loo.

There are many great things about Levi’s. Not so much about the particular concert I went to. Here’s hoping the venue figures out the sound quality for the Vance Joy and Taylor Swift show coming up in August. I was thinking about getting tickets for that show, but after attending the Chesney/Aldean Tour, I’d rather not.